


Just a piece of paper

by smkkbert



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, my thoughts on weddings and marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-30
Updated: 2017-01-30
Packaged: 2018-09-20 23:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9520361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smkkbert/pseuds/smkkbert
Summary: During his best friend's bachelor party Oliver meets Felicity Smoak. They bond instantly over their shared thoughts on weddings and marriage. Years later they are living happily together. What happens when one of them changes their mind about weddings and marriages, though?





	

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this one-shot in response to my sister’s engagement and the way she handled some things while planning her wedding. It actually shows my point of view on marriage and wedding that has only been reinforced since my sister got engaged. Since literature is the best way to think about those things, I figured why not voice my opinion through my favorite characters?

“Ollie, I need to apologize.”

His best friend put his arms around his shoulders and pulled him close, so the smell of beer on Tommy’s breath met him right in the face. Oliver turned his eyes from the redheaded stripper to his slightly drunk friend. He quickly drank the rest of the beer in his glass and perked up his eyebrows.

“Apologize for what?” Oliver asked.

“When Laurel asked me this morning if I was sure that you were going to do this right, I didn’t really trust that you had put much effort into this,” Tommy admitted, a slur in his speech. “This entire day was perfect, though. I should have known that I could trust you. After all you are not just my best friend but also my best man and I chose you wisely because I am really smart.”

Oliver snorted. “I think if you asked anyone who went with us to school or any of the four colleges we dropped out of, they’d disagree.”

“I am just too smart for them to understand me.”

“If you say so,” Oliver just replied, shaking his head slightly.

Tommy could be hilarious when he was drunk, but it probably required that Oliver was drunk too. He had some beer today, but he was far from being even nearly as drunk as Tommy. Given that it was his bachelor party and not Oliver’s it was probably only fair.

“I hope you know that when you get married, man, I will throw you an even cooler party.”

“I think this one is hard to top,” Oliver replied. “Besides, you know my thoughts on marriage and weddings.”

“You will find the right girl that will change your mind,” Tommy told him, waving with his glass, emptying half of the beer left in it over their friend Carter Bowen. Luckily, Carter was too focused on one of the half-naked dancers in front of him to realize it. “One day soon you are going to meet the perfect girl and she is going to change everything. Just like Laurel changed everything for me.”

“I wouldn’t bet on it.”

Oliver still couldn’t really believe that Tommy Merlyn was getting married. He knew that he shouldn’t be this surprised because Tommy had been in love with their childhood friend Laurel Lance since forever and they had been in a serious and stable relationship for quite some time too, but Oliver had just never believed that his best friend was going to take this step and actually be excited about it. He had thought that if Tommy was ever getting married, it was because Laurel would urge him to do so. She had never made a secret of how much she loved the idea of getting married.

Of course Oliver had left his wild years of sleeping around far behind him already too, but his opinion on marriage hadn’t changed with his lifestyle. Everyone told him that once he got older and more mature he would change his mind like it was a given thing that everyone who wanted to have a lifelong relationship had to get married. It was kind of annoying and the fact that his best friend joined this group of people now only made it worse.

“I need a new beer. What about you?” Oliver asked before Tommy could say anything more, not interested in digging deeper into this subject.

“Always,” Tommy replied and thrust his glass into his friend’s hand. “Just get a dozen glasses. Someone will drink them.”

Oliver nodded, turned around and headed to the bar, grateful for the break he got to catch his breath. As much fun as he and his friends had today, he didn’t mind to have a few minutes to himself. With the bachelor party and all the other preparations for the wedding lately, it was hard to have a minute that allowed him to think about anything else than marriage. Even his little sister hadn’t stopped asking when he would finally get married.

He pushed himself through the crowd of people around the dance stage, nodding his head in greeting when he saw some familiar faces from his old party times. He released a low sigh when he reached the bar counter. Waving with the empty glasses in his hands, he called for the barkeeper’s attention.

“It will take a moment. We have a little problem with our beer pump,” the young man told him after taking his order and Oliver smiled in response.

“That’s not a problem,” he replied and sat down on one of the free stools at the bar, relieved that he got a little more time away from his friends.

He pulled his phone from the pocket of his pants and took a look at the text messages he had gotten in the last hour since he had checked the last time. Helena Bertinelli had texted him ten times, asking if he wanted to come over to her and have fun. Oliver didn’t even consider replying. He had had a thing with Helena awhile ago, but she didn’t want anything serious and he didn’t want to play around and that was why he was trying to stay away from her now. Whatever there had been between the two of them would never work.

He looked up with a sigh, his eyes being drawn to a woman at the other side of the bar immediately. A pink cap with the label Team Bride printed on the fabric covered the crown of her head, but it did not keep the blonde, curly hair to fall down onto her shoulders in soft curls. Her blue eyes behind the thick frames of her glasses were focused on the book in her hands. She seemed to be lost in the story she was reading like she was somewhere far away from the club.

Oliver couldn’t say what it was, but there was just something about her that made him get up and walk around the bar counter to where she was. He sat down on the stool next to her, waiting for her to look up at him and say something. Her eyes stayed focused on the book, though. It was like she didn’t even notice him or no, Oliver corrected himself immediately. It wasn’t just like that. She really didn’t notice him.

Debating with himself what to do, Oliver just took her in from so much closer. She was beautiful to say the least. Now that he was so sitting so close to her he could see the slightest of a smile playing on her lips and whenever he saw the headlights moving over her face, he could see the freckles on her nose and cheeks. It was fascinating how far away her mind seemed, neither the loud music nor his constant staring bothering her, so for a long time Oliver just continued watching her, not saying a word.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he eventually decided that maybe it was time to talk to her, so he said quietly, “Hey.”

The blonde flinched. She shut the book in her hands and looked at him over the upper edge of it. “Don’t you knock?”

Oliver frowned, trying not to laugh. He took a quick look around before he looked back at her again. “I’m sorry, but… this is a club. It’s not the ladies’ room.”

Just like he had before it was now the blonde taking a quick look around. Her eyes widened slightly as if she just now realized where she was. She ducked her head a little, pushing her book into her purse. If the dimmed light didn’t betray him, he could actually see a deep red blush forming on her cheeks and spreading down over her neck and cleavage where it disappeared into the deep neckline of her black dress.

“Sorry. I was… distracted,” she hurried to say when she looked up, smiling apologetically. She quickly drank the rest of her wine and took her purse. “I gotta go. I-“

“I didn’t mean to chase you off,” Oliver hurried to say, disappointed that she wanted to leave already. “I guess you have to go back to your Team Bride, though?”

“That’s right,” the blonde replied and took a look into her purse, mumbling, “not that I want to go there.”

“That makes two,” Oliver said with a sigh. The blonde looked at him with questioning eyes, so he explained, “My best friend is having his bachelor party tonight and I could use some way to buy time before I have to go back. I just thought maybe we could help each other out with that.”

The blonde took him in carefully for a long moment. Biting down on her bottom lip, she turned her head and looked at one of the smaller dance stages where a group of women was taught how to do pole-dancing. If the pink caps were any indication, it was the group of people she had come here with.

After a few seconds she turned her head back to Oliver with a relieved even if slightly nervous smile. “I’m Felicity… Smoak.”

“Oliver Queen,” he replied and held out his hand. Felicity only hesitated shortly before she put her much smaller hand into his and shook it. Oliver smiled at her, still holding her hand, when he asked, “And you are not interested in learning how to do pole-dancing?”

Felicity chuckled, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. She pulled her hand back and opened her eyes to look at him before she replied, “No, absolutely not. I knew my mom wanted to do it, so I put it on the list of activities for her bachelorette party, but I told her from the start that I am not going to join in on that. I think the fact that I organized all of this and actually came here to celebrate it with her and her friends is already more than could have been expected of me.”

She sounded so terribly annoyed that Oliver considered dropping the subject and changing it to something lighter at least for the start. At the same time he was kind of nosy and wanted to know more about her, so he asked carefully, “You are not happy about your mother’s upcoming wedding?”

Felicity snorted. “Okay let’s ignore the fact that I think marriage is just a piece of paper that excuses people to get lazily in their relationships and let’s also ignore that I think everything around marriage and that includes bachelor parties and these big weddings that cost more money than a car is just a circus. What still remains, when we leave all of that aside, is that this is my mother’s third marriage. You would think that after two marriages that ended badly she’d finally get to the point where she gives up on the perception that marriage is the ideal lifestyle for couples but no. She throws herself into the next marriage because why not? If it doesn’t work, you can still get divorced. Let’s be honest, marriage doesn’t mean anything.”

Oliver watched Felicity quietly while she was taking in a deep breath and breathed out with a sigh. She looked past him for a moment, her eyes angry and full of energy. After almost a minute the tension ceased from her body and her shoulders slumped. She shook her head with a sad chuckle before she put her elbow to the bar counter and propped her head up on her hand.

“And now you think I am a bitch,” Felicity said sadly, sighing once more. “You know, I don’t mind when other people get married. I understand when they see more in marriage than I do which really isn’t that hard given how little I think of it. It’s just that everyone acts like it’s completely insane to not believe in marriage and that I will change my mind once I grow up. I have grown up. Okay, I am only twenty-three, but I have graduated MIT and I had my fair share of relationships and I have been in love and I just still don’t believe in marriage. Is that wrong?”

Oliver shook his head, smiling warmly. “Absolutely not.”

“I mean I would get married if it was really important to my partner,” Felicity hurried to say. “Of course I would expect him to beg me on his bended knees for at least a week. If he’s desperate enough to do that just for me to sign a piece of paper, then I’m in.”

“Good luck finding someone like that.”

Felicity boxed his shoulder playfully. “Hey, didn’t you listen? I don’t want to find someone like that. I want to find someone who is interested in long-term relationships but doesn’t need all this wedding and marriage stuff.”

“Today might be your lucky day then because to be honest I don’t believe in marriage either.”

Felicity perked up an eyebrow, cocking her head. “If anything of what is written about you in the tabloids is any indication, I guess we do not have the same reasons to not believe in marriage.”

Oliver pressed his lips together. Though he had left his antics with women far behind already, the tabloids refused to accept that. They just needed to catch him talking to a girl and immediately she was made his new woman of the week that he was sleeping with while already flirting with at least three other girls. Truth be told, Oliver hadn’t been the best guy in the past, but he had never been as bad as the press had painted him to be.

“I think marriage is a way for a person to keep the partner in a relationship even when they are unhappy. I am all in for a lifelong, monogamous relationship. I just don’t see the necessity of a marriage. I think people stay in unhappy marriages just because… I don’t know… I think at least in my circles it is still not fully accepted to get divorced like it’s a terrible crime that people choose to leave a marriage that they aren’t happy in anymore. What good is a relationship where both partners are unhappy? I understand that you should fight for your relationship and can’t just rest on the fact that you’re married, but if you’re really unhappy? At some point it should be okay to give up and move on, right?”

Felicity looked at him for a moment, her eyes soft on his face. “I’d ask if you were a child of divorce if I didn’t know that your parents are still married.”

Oliver snorted. “I wish I was a child of divorce.”

“That bad?” Felicity asked.

“Let’s just say that I never experienced a good example for a happy and healthy marriage,” Oliver explained.

“I’m sorry,” Felicity said quietly and brushed her fingers against the back of his hand.

Oliver watched the touch of her fingers, his hand longing to turn around and lace his fingers through hers. Before he could do so, Felicity had already pulled her hand away, though.

He wished he could tell her more, but he had made bad experience with trusting strangers, and he knew his parents would kill him if anything about their marriage would ever get into the tabloids. Keeping up the appearance of a happy family was all that mattered to them, no matter how unhappy they were with each other. He looked at Felicity and he felt the weird feeling that he could trust her despite his bad experiences, so maybe, just maybe he could tell her at least a little bit more.

“You know my dad is kind of-“

“Ollie!” Tommy interrupted him, putting his arm around his shoulders. “Here you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you! I don’t think they will get their problem with the beer back under control anytime soon. Let’s head out to a different club and- Woah! What a rare beauty did you find here my friend!”

Oliver turned his eyes to find Tommy’s gaze taking Felicity in carefully, his eyes moving over her body and stopping at the neckline of her dress. Felicity perked up an eyebrow, obviously not missing what Tommy stared at.

“Tommy, if you don’t want me to tell Laurel about this, your eyes should find something else to stare at,” Oliver told him with low voice between clenched teeth. Immediately Tommy turned his eyes away, scratching the back of his neck and Oliver said a little louder, “Why don’t you guys get your jackets already. I’ll be at the wardrobe in a minute.”

Tommy seemed to be considering saying something more, but Oliver just gave him a look. Even in his drunk state his friend didn’t seem to miss the message. He just nodded, waved awkwardly at Felicity and made his way back to their friends, bawling out some song loudly.

Oliver shook his head and looked back at Felicity, smiling apologetically. “I am sorry. He is a good guy when he’s not that drunk.”

“It’s okay.” Felicity shrugged her shoulders and looked at where Tommy had disappeared into the crowd before she looked back at him again with an almost disappointed smile. “I guess you have to go.”

“Yeah,” Oliver replied, his voice sounding just as disappointed as her face looked. “I wish I could stay here instead.”

“Oh, I guess we are going to leave soon too,” Felicity told him, “at least I hope so.”

Oliver nodded. He knew it was crazy, but he didn’t want to leave. Felicity was the first person who seemed to not only understand his beliefs but also shared them. She was interesting and beautiful and just different from any other girl he had ever met – honestly, what girl was reading a book in a strip club?! He wanted to see her again, so he could have the chance to really get to know her.

Without hesitation he pulled his phone from the pocket of his pants and held it out for her. “Could you save your number please?”

Felicity seemed to be surprised because she looked at the phone only shortly before looking back at him. She chuckled nervously and bit down on her bottom lip, a blush spreading on her cheeks. Eventually she took the phone from him and started typing. When she handed him back the phone, he saw her name and a number on the display.

“It was nice meeting you, Felicity.”

“It was nice meeting you too,” she replied. “Have a fun rest of the night.”

“You too.”

Oliver got up from the barstool, but he hesitated to leave. Taking in a deep breath, he put a hand to Felicity’s shoulder and gently brushed her cheek with his lips. He didn’t miss the way her breath got caught in her throat for a moment and it made him smile.

“Night, Felicity,” he whispered before he turned around and headed towards the wardrobe.

He didn’t really want to head out into the next club, but he knew that as the best man he was kind of obligated to be the last to leave. He would just make sure that Tommy wouldn’t want to stay that much longer either. Given how drunk he was already Oliver was sure he had good chances to get Tommy back to the hotel within the next two hours.

He glanced back over his shoulder, finding Felicity still sitting there with the books back in her hands. Meeting Felicity was probably the only real good about the evening and weirdly enough meeting her had been worth everything else. He just knew that he needed to see her again after tonight and meet her somewhere that was completely different from a strip club.

Halfway through the club he stopped and turned around to look at Felicity once more. He pulled out his phone and tapped his finger on her name on the screen, calling her. He watched Felicity putting the book aside and pulling her phone from her purse.

“Hello?”

“Hi, it’s me,” he said with a wide grin. “Oliver.”

He could see Felicity smile, her eyes ghosting through the crowd and searching for him.

“I didn’t think I would hear of you this soon.”

Oliver chuckled. “I just needed to make sure that you didn’t give me the wrong number.”

When her eyes finally found him, she turned on her barstool to get a better look at him. She smiled, cocking her head. “And why would I do that?”

“You are right. It was a stupid thing to think. How would you not want to go out with me, right?”

“Go out with you?” she asked, puckering her lips. “I don’t know…”

“Oh, I know for the two of us,” Oliver replied with a wide grin before his smile grew a little bit more nervous and he asked. “No, really. I would like to go out to dinner with you, Felicity.”

Felicity smiled at him from the distance. “Sounds good.”

“Great,” Oliver replied and his smile widened. “I will call you tomorrow, so we can talk about the details.”

“Okay.”

“Night, Felicity.”

“Night, Oliver.”

He stayed at the phone for five seconds longer before he sighed and ended the call. His eyes were still on Felicity and the other way around. It wasn’t until a woman touched her shoulder and she turned away that Oliver turned around and continued his way through the crowd too.

His eyes stayed locked onto the screen of his phone, looking at her name.

“Felicity Smoak,” he mumbled to himself, his smile widening once more, “I think I have a gigantic crush on you.”

 

 

Two years later

“To our new home?” Felicity suggested, holding her glass of champagne close to Oliver for them to clink glasses.

“To us,” Oliver toasted instead and clinked his glass with hers.

“To us,” Felicity repeated.

They both took a nip of the expensive liquid before Felicity slid closer to Oliver. She rested her legs on his thighs and snuggled up to his side. Her fingertips stroked through the short stubble on his cheek before she leaned forward and captured his lips with hers in a gentle kiss. Oliver snuck an arm around her shoulders and pulled her even closer, his tongue slipping into her mouth and moving against her tongue in a dance that had grown amazingly familiar over the last two years.

When their lips parted, Felicity sighed, already missing his lips against hers. Oliver brushed another short kiss to her mouth before he rested his forehead against hers, nuzzling her nose with his. Felicity closed her eyes and stayed like that for a moment before her head dropped to his shoulder and she snuggled even closer to him.

It had been a little more than two years ago that they had met in a strip club and their wonderful love story had begun. After only a couple of dates they had been inseparable. He had accompanied her to her mother’s wedding and she had been at his side for Tommy’s. Four months later they had moved into a small townhome where they had lived and deepened their relationship up until yesterday when they had moved into a nice loft that offered much more room.

Felicity wasn’t one to use the word ‘perfect’ easily, but her life with Oliver kind of was.

“Are you happy?” Oliver asked, his fingers stroking through her long hair.

“Very,” Felicity replied. She angled her head back to look at Oliver and smiled at him amorously. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he whispered and kissed her once more.

When their lips parted, Felicity opened her eyes. She smiled at Oliver, but as soon as she caught his gaze, she frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t say what exactly it was, but something in the way he looked at her made her know that something was wrong. She knew Oliver. She knew the way he looked at her when he was watching and quietly admiring her. She knew the way he looked at her when he was thinking about undressing her. She knew the way he looked at her when he was annoyed of her because that happened sometimes, but to be fair it also happened the other way around, so Felicity didn’t mind. Right now he looked hesitating and Oliver barely ever looked hesitating expect for when something was wrong.

“Talk to me,” she said gently, stroking her fingers over his cheek.

Oliver pressed his lips together, watching her for a moment. He took her glass of champagne and put both glasses, his and hers, on the table. Putting his hands to her hips, he pulled her onto him completely, so she was straddling his lap. His fingers laced through hers and he captured her lips with his in a slow kiss before he looked at her seriously.

“I want to talk to you about something,” he told her. “I just don’t know how to start this or how to say what I am thinking without…” Oliver stopped for a moment and sighed. He squeezed her hands and pulled her a little closer to him. “I love you, Felicity, and nothing will ever change that even if we disagree on something.”

Felicity perked up an eyebrow and cocked her head. “If this is still about naked Tuesdays, the answer is still no. I know here in the loft we don’t have that many neighbors and everything, but I still don’t take a chance of being caught running around here nakedly. Besides, if we do these naked Tuesdays, we both know that we will never make it out of the loft on Tuesdays.”

Oliver chuckled, letting go of her hands to circle her waist with his arms and pull her flush against him for a moment. He kissed the underside of her jaw before he said, “The fact that you can make me laugh although I am dying from nervousness is one of the many reasons I love you and why I want to marry you.”

Felicity tensed at his words. Her heart stumbled in her chest for a moment before it started racing. She tried to take in a calming breath, but her throat felt constricted. It probably didn’t go unnoticed by Oliver because his thumbs found their way under the hem of her shirt and rubbed soothing circles against the small of her back.

“Marry me?” Felicity asked with hoarse voice.

Oliver chuckled. “Hey, I am the one who wants to propose.”

Felicity knew that he was trying to ease the tension, but she couldn’t even get herself to smile. Her mind was going wild, trying to figure out what was happening here and what she should say now. In the few seconds before Oliver had told her what was wrong, she had thought about a lot of different scenarios, but none of those included a proposal.

“I thought we talked about this,” Felicity whispered eventually. “It was basically the first conversation we had and-“

“I know,” Oliver hurried to interrupt her, probably knowing that her thoughts were running so wild that if he didn’t cut into her words now, she would talk herself into a long ramble. “I know that we talked about this and I know that it’s probably confusing and that it comes surprising, but I have been thinking about this for a while now and… I can’t tell you when or how it happened. I just know that at some point my opinion changed. I don’t think that badly about marriage anymore. I think that marriage is a wonderful way to show that two people love each other. I am not naïve about it. I know that just because two people are married, it doesn’t mean they won’t ever break-up or they won’t have to fight to keep their relationship alive. I just… I don’t know. I think I just like the idea that we officially belong together in any way possible. I want to wear a ring that makes everyone see that I am a taken man and that I am all yours. I know it sounds like I want to get married to you for reasons that have nothing to do with just us, but that’s not true. The truth is that I love you more than anything and I want to commit myself to you in every way humanly possible and for me that includes getting married to you.”

Felicity could hear her blood rushing in her ear. Her heart was pounding firmly against her ribs. She was staring at Oliver, looking right into his face and almost getting lost in his eyes that were so intense on her face that it made her heart stumble a few times.

Oliver rubbed his hands over the outside of her thighs and chuckled slightly. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against her jaw before he whispered, “Felicity, breathe.”

Only now she realized that she had indeed been holding her breath which should actually explain why her lungs were burning this terribly. She sucked in a breath, feeling her chest aching desperately with the need for more oxygen. Still starting at Oliver, she slowly took in a few deep breaths until her heart rate was at least a little less crazy.

Had she known that he had changed his mind about marriage and had just avoided thinking about it or did this really come to her as a surprise?

Since they had decided to buy the loft, they had talked a lot about their future. It was kind of impossible not to talk about their visions of their future together with the way Tommy had reached one milestone in his family life after another. He had gotten married shortly after Oliver and Felicity had gotten together. Then he and Laurel had bought a house with a pretty white fence only to announce Laurel’s pregnancy a few months later and a few weeks ago Oliver had finally become the godfather of Tommy’s first son.

With all of these milestones Tommy had reached she and Oliver had never talked about getting engaged, though. They had actually repeated again and again, whenever one of their friends had gotten engaged or married, that lucky for them they would never have to go through that because they were on the same page regarding marriage.

“Felicity?” Oliver asked, squeezing her thigh. “Could you please say something? Anything? Just so I know that you are not having a stroke?”

“I am still… processing,” Felicity explained, gesturing with her hands around her head. “A lot of things are going on here right now.”

Oliver smiled compassionately. “I didn’t mean to ambush you with this. I just-“

“No, no,” Felicity hurried to way. “I am glad that you told me because now we can talk about this and figure out what to do.”

“I hope you know that-“

Felicity put her fingers to his mouth. “I am not ready to talk yet. I need another minute.”

“You can take more time,” Oliver said behind her fingers.

“No, a minute… A minute will do it.”

Oliver wanted to get married to her. He wanted a wedding and probably everything else they had agreed during their first meeting was nothing they liked. Now he wanted all of that with her. When she realized that her mind was going in circles, Felicity closed her eyes and moved her flat hands over her face.

“Felicity, I-“

Felicity laced her fingers with his and leaned forward, interrupting him with a gentle kiss. She felt her heartbeat slowing down for the first time since Oliver had dropped this bomb on her. Sighing, she parted her lips and leaned back to look at him.

“I-“

“I need to add something before you say anything please,” Oliver asked and Felicity nodded. “I love you and nothing is more important to me than you, so whatever you decide on, I still want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to marry you, but I don’t insist on it. I just… I don’t want you to think that the only way for our relationship to continue is if you marry me. That’s not the case, and I hope that you still want to be with me even if we are disagreeing on this and-“

Felicity squeezed Oliver’s hands and he fell silent. She smiled at him, whispering, “You’re babbling.”

“It’s contagious,” Oliver replied. “I got used to it in the last two years.”

Smiling, Felicity stroked her thumbs over the knuckles of his hands. She watched him for a long moment, wondering how she could tell him what she was thinking. Deciding that sometimes actions were louder than words, she leaned forward and brushed her lips against his lovingly for a moment.

“I love you,” she whispered eventually. “I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want the whole damn thing – a house with a white fence, babies and grandbabies and at least a dozen dogs.”

Oliver smiled at her. “But you didn’t change your mind about marriage,” he stated, knowing her too well to feel the necessity to ask.

“No, I didn’t,” Felicity replied. “For me marriage is still just a piece of paper and weddings and all that is part of the circus people make out of it.”

Oliver nodded, smiling at her sadly for a moment longer, before he lowered his gaze disappointedly. He took in a deep breath before he looked back up at her, the disappointment shining through his eyes.

“Like I said it’s okay. I just wanted to let you know and-“

“I am not finished,” Felicity interrupted him.

She loosened her fingers from his and put her hands to his shoulders, gently massaging the tense muscle at the back of his neck. Oliver purred deep in his chest, angling his head back into her touch. Felicity smiled. She loved how easily he accepted every touch she had to offer.

“I stand by what I said two years ago,” Felicity explained. “I don’t believe in marriage and I don’t need a marriage to know that we belong together as much as two people can.”

Oliver nodded. “Like I said, it’s okay and it doesn’t mean that anything between us has to change or-“

“I also stand by the other thing I said,” Felicity interrupted him, “and that is that if I have someone in my life who I want to spend the rest of my life with but who happens to believe in marriage, then of course I will marry him.”

“You will?”

Felicity nodded. “I will,” she replied. “Marriage might still not mean anything to me, but it does mean something to you and… Okay, let’s compare this to other believes we don’t necessarily share. You celebrate Christmas and because I love you, I celebrate Christmas with you. I celebrate Hanukkah and because you love me, you are celebrating it with me. We don’t share the same religious beliefs, but we are celebrating the same religious holidays because we love each other and we want to share this part of the other’s life. Now you happen to believe in marriage and because I love you, I want to share that with you. It doesn’t mean that I believe in the concept. It just means that I love you and I want to do this for you.”

Now Oliver was the one to stare at her. His deep blue eyes were taking her in carefully, waiting for her to say something more. Only now Felicity fully realized how he must have felt when she had been the one to stare at him.

“I know this probably isn’t the answer you have hoped for because it would probably be much more romantic if I had told you that I changed my mind too and-“

“No,” Oliver interrupted her, putting his hand to hers on his cheek and snuggled his face into her touch. “It was perfect.”

Felicity smiled, relieved that he didn’t expect her to change her opinion. She bit down on her bottom lip and cleared her throat slightly. “Could you just do me one favor?”

“Anything,” Oliver replied immediately.

“I know your family is kind of famous here,” Felicity started, lifting her free hand to play with the topmost button of his henley shirt, “and I understand that your wedding is probably an occasion the media will be very interested in, but… I don’t really like to be in the spotlight and I think I will probably embarrass both of us if I am really nervous and my nervousness will probably increase with every guest there is and-“

“How about no guests?” Oliver suggested.

Felicity perked up her eyebrows. “No guests?”

“Just you and me at a beach in Bali,” he replied. “No engagement party, no bachelor party, no big wedding. Just you and me saying our vows and signing that piece of paper you don’t believe in. You can wear your sweatpants or a bikini or you can come naked. I am fine with all of that. I don’t want the wedding or any of the circus around it as you like to call it. I just want to be married to you.”

Felicity smiled. Stroking her fingers through his short hair, she leaned forward and kissed Oliver gently. He pulled her bottom lip between both of his gently and moved his nose against hers, making her smile against his lips. The heavy weight she had felt dropping on her chest when Oliver had told her that he wanted to get married, eased away. She took in a deep breath and sighed into the kiss. Oliver used the opportunity to stroke his tongue against hers shortly.

Oliver pulled back slightly to look at her and cocked his head, frowning slightly. “Is it selfish of me to ask you to marry me when I know that you don’t believe in it? You would be put through-“

“It’s not selfish,” Felicity interrupted him, shaking her head. “If this is important to you, then I am happy to do this with you. Honestly, you are not asking too much of me. You are barely asking anything of me. All I need to do is show up in a pretty dress, tell you how much I love you and sign that piece of paper, right?”

“Like I said, I don’t insist on a dress code,” Oliver replied after a moment. He straightened up and kissed the underside of her jaw before he asked with a wide smile on his face, “So we’re getting married?”

Felicity chuckled. “I don’t know.”

“I thought we just-“

“-talked about whether or not we see a possibility to get married to each other,” Felicity finished his sentence for him. “I told you that there is a possibility like that. Now you just need to decide if or when you want to propose to me.”

Oliver grinned. “I already got my grandmother’s engagement ring from my mom.”

Felicity perked up her eyebrows. “When?”

“Awhile ago,” Oliver replied evasively. “Anyway, since I know that the ring alone won’t do it, I also have the perfect proposal planned.”

“Oh, really?” Felicity asked. “The perfect one, hm?”

Oliver nodded, his grin widening. “Want a hint?”

“I think I want to be surprised,” Felicity told him, but frowned after a moment. “You won’t do a public proposal, right?”

“No,” Oliver replied immediately and chuckled. “I know you’d say no.”

“I would,” Felicity confirmed nodding her head. “I hate public proposals.”

“I know. Don’t worry. You are going to like what I have planned out for you.”

Felicity puckered her lips. She wasn’t sure how she felt about surprises. On one hand surprises could be kind of fun, but on the other she was just too nosy to wait for the surprise to be revealed.

“Okay, I want the hint,” Felicity stated.

“Do you remember what you told me during our first conversation how important marriage has to be to your partner for you to agree to get married to him?”

“That important that he would be begging me on his bended knees for at least a week?”

Oliver’s grin widened. He rubbed his hands up and down her back and straightened up. His lips brushed against hers gently before they pressed down a little bit more firmly. His tongue opened her lips to him and he carefully explored the inside of her mouth. When their lips parted, he rested his forehead against hers and nuzzled his nose with hers, making Felicity smile. He pecked her lips one more time before he pulled back.

Felicity felt her heart skipping a beat at the way he smiled at her. He looked like a little boy that just saw the dozens of presents under the Christmas tree. Knowing that she was the one that made this smile show on his face still amazed her.

“I already bought kneepads and I took the next week off,” Oliver told her and winked. “That’s my hint.”


End file.
